


Hinc Itur Ad Astra

by LapsedPacifist



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (more sci-fi than usual), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, M/M, Spaceships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-26 11:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6237376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LapsedPacifist/pseuds/LapsedPacifist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Space!AU because why not?</p><p>More specifically, a space!AU in which everyone thinks that Prince Stark is long dead, when Captain Rogers and the crew of his Wanderer-class starship Wolf stumble upon some very hard evidence that suggests otherwise.<br/>Cue epic space battles, awesome starships, some (thankfully not forbidden) love, amazing technology and a little law-breaking (and yes, we are talking about the laws of physics).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, a space au bc there aren't enough of those... (And I do realize that there are some, but not enough!)

The halls of the Great Dome were abandoned; quiet and dark. Many of the Great Systems were not fully operational, and most of the ones that were, were powered down. Only a few of the low-level AI’s were still functional, namely the ones required to keep the life support systems up and running.

Prince Tony would never be able to adjust to the absence of life here; it was unnatural and the deathlike silence in his head made him anxious. He’d grown used to the constant connection he had with the tech surrounding him, the constant chatting, rambling, and humming of different kinds of AI’s, machines, drones…This was his first time in a dying Dome and it was creeping him out.

His mother, bless her heart, didn’t want him to know why they were here or why they were leaving. To be precise, she didn’t want him to know anything regarding the Crimson War, as they were calling the bloody slaughter, but that was a futile attempt.

All of her efforts didn’t matter. Tony, using all the resources he had (and, as a Prince of the greatest force in the galaxy, he had a lot of resources), had created a vast and well-connected informative network, which supplied him the latest information faster than the speed of light.

His father was of the exactly opposite opinion, and he wanted Tony to know everything, every single step the Empire took in the war. But even he refused to tell Tony exactly why they had to abandon the Vailsto Dome. It had served as their main base of operations in this part of the Galaxy, as Tony’s home, for more than a decade.

So, Tony happened to know a few things that his parents (and the media, and the AI’s) were hiding.

For example, he knew the war was going badly for the Earth Nova Empire, that they were running out of resources: fighters, drones, weapons, and ships. He knew the New Alliance, which was kicking the empires ass, was planning a simultaneous attack, targeting the Earth Nova Empires main bases and, as one of them, Vailsto Dome had to be evacuated.

But he also knew some things that even his parents didn’t know.

He knew that the BloodHounds were allied with the Alliance now, and that, for now, the Nova Rebels were staying out of the conflict and were assisting civilians on both sides of the conflict.

And, most importantly, he knew that one of the Infinity Runners had been uncovered somewhere in the Castralo system. Which Runner, no one knew; it didn’t seem that important. Honestly, no one seemed to care.

Only a few trustworthy members of the Nova Rebels knew about the recovery of the runner, and Tony was very interested that they were willing to share that information with him.

Tony had been – and still was – supplying them with Intel and resources for the last six years, but that arrangement was about the end.

He was leaving tonight. His special project, a ship he’d carefully chose and personally upgraded, was waiting for him in the family hanger. He’d taken the time to secure the network, making sure the ship’s systems were cut off from the central Starknet. Tony had created the hardware himself.

And he didn’t have any illusions about what he was doing either; how it would look to his family. Running away now, at this critical stage of the war with no notice at all? He would be disowned and the Special Forces would be sent after him with orders to bring him back. Alive, if he was lucky.

But he had to do this, for his people. An Infinity Runner might be their only chance of winning and finally finishing this bloody fight, once and for all.

When he entered his quarters, Jarvis was already waiting for him. The old drone has been there in the family for years, at least as long as Tony could remember; helping him through every hardship he encountered. Jarvis was probably the only thing he really trusted right now.

Well, there was also Pepper but, for her own good, she wasn’t coming. Jarvis was chatting with one of the few remaining AI’s systems, but immediately went quiet when Tony entered the room.

_“Is everything ready?”_ he asked, careful to subvocalize it. Tony couldn’t run the risk of being overheard and stopped; it was possible the outcome of the war was on the line.

_“Yes, it is. Right on schedule – our window opens in five minutes.”_

Tony looked around his quarters for one last time, reminding himself that this was necessary. This wasn’t about him and he knew it. It was about his family, the Empire he was supposed to one day lead, it was about the people he had to save.

He picked up the drugs and the device that would disguise him; mask any sign that he was a member of the Royal Family.

“Let’s go,” he said aloud, picking up a thin silver tube from his workstation, and headed out, the drone trailing behind him. He didn’t bother to engage any sort of security on his doors or chambers; the entire Dome would be destroyed in five hours anyway.

He didn’t look back.

* * *

 

“Steve.”

He wasn’t sleeping, but he wasn’t completely awake either, when he was startled by a loud noise, and a hologram of annoyed Peggy standing above him.

“There’s news,” she said, looking worried.

He rolled on his back, checking the time. “The attack doesn’t begin for another three hours. Did we get new orders? Please don’t tell me they’re moving it forward.”

She shook her head, “That’s just it, they’ve cancelled it. The Dome’s been blown up.”

Steve sat bolt upright and immediately jumped off his cot: “What?” he demanded, grabbing his pants.

“The entire Dome was bombarded in an attack run. It blew up about an hour and a half ago.”

“By whom?” he asked, while he ran to his station and plugged his hands into the ports, connecting himself to the systems of Wolf, their Wanderer-class starship.

“We believe the hit was executed by the BloodHounds,” Peggy said. She called up the holograms around her, showing the destruction on Vail, the planet where the Dome had been stationed. “And,” she continued, “since it happened now, and not later--” She shook her head. “The evacuation wasn’t complete. Hell, it hadn’t even really begun.”

“How many?” Steve whispered.

“More than fifteen million. We don’t know the exact number,” she said.

“Oh God,” Steve said. Civilians were never collateral damage to him, and fifteen million… Why would anyone do something like this? The war was bloody enough; they didn’t have to massacre civilians as well.

“Steve, there’s something else,” Peggy went on. “The entire royal family was still in the Dome when it went up.”

Steve needed a second to comprehend what she said: “No,” he breathed, paling and freezing. This was it. This was it…

“Queen Maria Carbonelia Stark tan Usmun, King Howard Stark tan Asvell, and Prince Anthony Edward Stark tan Esphero are dead.”

“But… Isn’t-no-wasn’t Prince Anthony only twenty-six years old? Who would murder a child? Why would they want to kill the entire Royal Family?”

Peggy sighed. That was one of the new things she could do, after the upgrade, and it was really interesting watching an avatar sigh. “Well, they probably wanted to end the war. Besides, what are you going about calling him a child? Not that your forty-seven years are so much older!”

Steve shook his head: “That’s what we want, about the ending, but no one ever suggested something this extreme! Besides, about calling him a child - most of the fighters and personnel here are well over two hundred years old! Compared to their average age, twenty-six is nothing! He is a child! He _was_ a child. He is dead now.”

She nodded: “Yeah. But, the war… It’s probably over. The Empire’s forces are already falling back; they don’t have a base anymore, no central command. And they’ve lost their leaders. We won.”

Steve had been waiting to hear those exact words for what felt like forever, but now they felt bitter and sad.

“This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go,” he whispered.

He never thought about what he was going to do after the war. Hell, in the middle of it all he’d never believed there was an after! But now…All the sacrifices they made, all the suffering, all the death… Could it really be over?

He was so distracted he didn’t realize that he’d stopped processing the information the ship was feeding him until Peggy disconnected him.

“Don’t worry, we still have a lot of clean-up to do. Some small battalions are still fighting and there are a lot of independent ships left that need to be picked up. But, for all that it’s worth – we did win, Steve.”

* * *

 

Natasha Alianovna Romanova tal Mir was a scary person. Her past was shady, her hardware was mysterious; her skills of stealth, deception, lying and subterfuge were unparalleled in the field. But even she was uneasy in the presence of the Director.

“The entire Dome?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yes. There were no survivors.”

“No survivors? So, the Key…?”

“The Key is gone,” she reported.

The Director snorted. “Yeah, sure. The Key is destroyed and we’re all destined to die. What’s the punchline?”

Romanova shook her head: “There isn’t one. This is what the intelligence says.”

“I have reason to believe the Key is there. Go find it.”

She froze. Natasha Alianovna Romanova tal Mir had never failed a mission in her very long life.

This might be her first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: I revisited this thing and... Yeah. All thanks to amazing kteaanne, who beta'd the shit out of this fic! You're awesome!


	2. A Little Of Normality Before All The Craziness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet the crew of the Wolf, the (in)famous Howling Commandos!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey people! Thanks for all the lovely comments and kudos. It really gave me the push to quickly finish this.  
> So here it is! The first 'real' chapter. And it's a shame that AO3 doesn't let you mark the chapters as 'prequels' or 'epilogues'.  
> But onwards to the actual chapter!

**Exactly 12 years later**

 

“No,” said Bucky, just loudly enough so that Sam could hear him.

Then he threw his headset down, and yanked the wires from his hands: “No, no, no!” he yelled.

“You cheated! You cheating son of a bitch, how could you do this to me?! Me, your best friend, your support in the field, and also your ranking officer?”

Bucky looked shocked and betrayed, but that only made Sam laugh harder, falling on the floor and clutching his stomach like he was in terrible pain.

“That’s it! You’re demoted! No, wait, you’re fired! Get off my ship, right now!” Bucky yelled, but without any real anger in his voice, and with laughter in his eyes.

“Excuse me?!” said Peggy, her hologram appearing in the middle of Bucky’s quarters, where they have just been blowing stuff up in virtual reality.

She pressed her lips together and pointed at Bucky, emitting a weak laser from her finger, the tip of which was now stationed on Bucky’s nose: “Did you just say ‘Get off _my_ ship?’ Since when am I _your_ ship? I am no one’s ship! Especially not yours! You would probably send me in a minefield, as far as I know. I wouldn’t survive a week under your control.”

Bucky angrily glared at her and sat down on Sam’s bed, but otherwise didn’t respond.

Sam, who finally stopped laughing, now picked himself up, and looked at Peggy: “Hey, where is the Captain? I haven’t seen him the whole day.”

For a second Peggy hesitated to answer, then sighed and said: “It’s the twelfth anniversary. I believe he is grieving in his cabin.”

Sam merely looked curious: “The twelfth anniversary of what?”

Meanwhile, Bucky paled: “The anniversary is today? Why didn’t you remind me?”

He jumped on his feet before she could answer him, but Sam caught his hand: “Hey, wait! What’s going on?”

Bucky looked to Peggy for support. Sam was a rookie, a newbie, who, despite knowing quite a lot and being an amazing shuttle pilot, still didn’t know the more personal stuff. The more… Confidential stuff that they were all supposed to forget, and not mention at all, to anybody.

And Bucky didn’t know how to explain it to him.

“Well, you see… Steve has… He was…”

He stumbled over his words, trying to relay his message in the nicest way possible, but it somehow wasn’t working. Luckily, Peggy took pity on him:

“You do know of the assault team that Interstellar Alliance, which was still New Alliance back then, gathered together to perform the final attack run on the Vailsto Dome?” she asked.

Sam nodded: “Well, yeah, that’s Interstellar History 101 – Crimson War.”

“Yes it is. But there is a couple of things that they forgot to mention when they wrote the programs,” she said, and gestured with her hand to the hologram of the infamous Vailsto Dome that appeared in front of her.

“The dome was the main base of the operations of the Terran Nova Empire at that time, and that’s why the Alliance wanted to crush it. However…”

A blood red symbol appeared next to the Dome when she pointed at it: “How much do you know about Blood Hounds?”

Sam screwed up his face: “Oh man, those terrorists? Well, I know only that we hate them and that they hate us and also hate everything even remotely civilized.”

Peggy chuckled: “That they do pretty much. But! What I am trying to tell you is this: Blood Hounds and the Interstellar Alliance entered into a brief partnership during the War.”

“What?!” Sam looked shocked.

“Yes. And in the end, the Hounds betrayed us. They blew up the Dome before the evacuation ended,” and at those words the hologram of the Dome dutifully blew up in a giant blast, “and killed thousands of people, including the entire Stark Royal family, efficiently ending the war.”

“So that shit wasn’t our doing at all? We have to thank terrorists for ending the war?” Sam asked, incredulous.

“Mhm. The so much wished for ending was very bloody, more than we would have liked. We were planning on finding a peaceful solution, which would also have prevented the rise of any kind of resistance, that we now have to face. Sadly, we weren’t successful.”

She looked sad at that, at least as sad as an AI could look like.

“The Alliance blindly and mistakenly trusted Blood Hounds in the War, which resulted in a huge number of casualties,” she said and then went silent for a moment, like she was preparing herself for something.

“We all are still paying for that mistake,” she continued, “but Steve… He took it the hardest. Because me and him… We were in that taskforce.”

She saw the incredulous look Sam send over to Bucky, and she secretly grinned to herself.

“I know it might sound unbelievable, but we were there. One of those one hundred and seventy-four ships that were supposed to save us all. Me, and the Captain.”

She paused again, this time for effect: “I am an AI. A _very_ sophisticated AI, but still originally only an AI. One of the things we, the AIs, pride ourselves with the most, is our ability to put hard, cold logic in front of our emotions. To consider facts before feelings. Or, as you humans would say, to think with our brains and not just blindly follow our heart. And, as such, I can still clearly see the situation that was posed in front of us that awful day. I see reason and logic and I can rationally say that there isn’t anything that we could’ve done, could’ve changed. Of course, there is a lot of things that could’ve gone differently, starting with the Command seeing their mistake earlier, but in the end, the situation was completely out of our hands. We weren’t even close to the Dome, completely removed…

We couldn’t have done anything, no matter what. I know that.

Steve doesn’t.”

She sighed, and started playing with a lose hair: “He is only human, in the end. Maybe enhanced and has that cool serum that gives him those cool abilities, but still a human. He blames himself. He thinks that there is something the Alliance could’ve done to prevent that kind of ending, and he thinks that it could have ended in a completely different manner.”

Then another hologram appeared, this time of a beautiful young man with clear royal markings over his body, whose face was still one of the most recognizable faces in the whole galaxy.

“He also doesn’t want to forget that one of the victims of _that_ day was Prince Anthony Stark, only 26 years old at the time of his death.”

Sam let out a deep breath he didn’t even realize he was holding: “Man, that is a lot of emotional baggage. How does he even deal with this stuff?”

Peggy smiled: “He ignores it, most of the time, or at least tries to. It doesn’t always work. But come, I believe we have wasted enough time and some people are getting nervous.”

 

“Hey Nat,” Sharon said when she walked into the cockpit of the ship. “What’s up?”

The cockpit, as the crew of the _Wolf_ called the ship’s bridge, didn’t look like it really belonged into a spacecraft. It was banged up, loose wires hanging everywhere, and in some places stuff was put together with s-gel. Not that they needed elegance, of course. The efficiency was much more preferred.

“Stars,” Natalia replied. She was sitting in the navigator seat, connected to the interface, holograms dancing around her.

“We are currently leaving the orbit of Anelan VI,” Peggy announced, appearing next to Sharon, who didn’t even flinch. After so many years of living with the AI, she got used to all its tricks.

“Where are we going?” Sharon then asked. She hasn’t seen Steve in a while, and he was the one that usually issued their orders.

Peggy clicked her fingers, and an image of twin starts, surrounded by at least a dozen planets appeared. “Tehreto-Vespae, binary solar system, ‘bout 28 clicks away. We are shooting for the Quie Orbital.”

“Quie orbital?” Sharon repeated. The name was familiar, in an unsettling kind of way. “Have we been there before?”

“Not all of us, only me and Steve,” Peggy said, bringing up the hologram of the orbital. It was big, one of the big ones that were usually the crown jewels of any system they were set in, but not as beautiful as the ones Alliance usually built. “It has been overtaken by the outsiders, and now serves as a some kind of homebase to many smuggling and even legal transport operations. It’s the centre of one of the biggest black markets in the galaxy, and generally a big pain in our ass. The Interstellar Alliance, however, it’s very much against us (or anyone, for that matter) shutting the thing down. Why is that, I don’t know.”

Sharon stopped listening to the AI’s ramblings somewhere in the middle of the speech, and rather focused on the question of why in the Galaxy would Steve even chose to go to such a corrupted place? Did they get _another_ important ‘mission’ from those shadowy organizations that Steve sometimes listened to?

“How long ‘till we arrive?” she asked Nat.

Nat didn’t even look at her, too focused on the displays around her when she answered: “About three hours and a half, maybe four. One of the engines _really_ needs an overhaul.”

That reminded Sharon why she really came here: “About that, yeah. Peggy, is there anything else we need to check?”

Peggy shook her head: “Nah, everything else seems in perfect working order. Except…”

She paused, and made a little wave with her hand, the universal ‘come closer’ sign. Sharon obligingly took a few steps forward, and then Peggy conspiratorially whispered into her ear: “The pilot is awful, and we will crash and burn with her driving skills.”

Sharon only sighed, a small smile playing on her lips. Peggy didn’t really like Natalia Rushman, and made that a well-known fact.

But the pilots nowadays really weren’t necessary. The AIs were a lot better pilots than humans, and most of the time people just let them have complete control over their ships. But there were also the paranoid people, the ‘natural’ people, the anti-computer people and the people that just liked doing things themselves.

The Howling Commandoes, as the crew of the Wolf was called, were definitely the latest.

Peggy didn’t complain too much.

 

“So… This shithole that Sharon told me about, you know, this terrible place that we’re going to… Why exactly are we going there?” Bucky asked, lounging around in Steve’s chair.

“Is it another mystery that needs to be solved? One of those that that weird department keeps sending you? Or is it a supply run? For us? I heard one of our engines is busted.”

“It’s not that bad,” Steve said. He was sitting at his terminal, going over the reports Sharon send him earlier. “And besides, even if it was, we wouldn’t go somewhere like that.”

“Hey, I’m just joking with you. I know that. So, what’s all of this really about? Those SHIELD buddies of yours that we don’t really work for gave you something?”

Steve looked away from Bucky: “Maaaaybe?”

“Oh, and does this-“

But before he could finish, the lights suddenly flared very brightly for a second, then immediately shut down. Peggy’s voice came loudly thorough the ship, panic in her voice very noticeable when she yelled: “Brace for impact!” not a second too early.

The ship shook like a mega bomb just hit it, throwing Bucky and Steve all across the floor.

The lights were now dimmed, flickering on and off, emergency light then switching on, illuminating everything in soft blue colour.

Peggy’s voice sound yet again, this time less shaking but no less urgent: “All hands to combat stations! We’re under attack!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How do I go about acquiring a beta reader? Because I feel like I need one. Does anyone have any advice? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?  
> Also, feedback is always appreciated!


	3. This Is Why Nobody Likes You, Tony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I am so sorry I left you alone for so long please don't kill me

“What’s a sweet little boy like you doing in a place like this?”

The words brought Tony back to reality, away from all those pesky matters he has been just meddling with. He lifted his hands from the table, severing the link he had with ship’s systems, and turned around.

The hologram of Aphrodite, leaning on the table behind him, with her long blonde hair flowing freely around, her azure dress bringing out her eyes and her long legs was a sight to behold. She was biting her lips in something that was probably meant to be a seductive manner, but Tony _really_ didn’t care right now.

“I just wanna finish this and then I’ll go to sleep. You don’t have to pester me about that,” he said, turning back to the desk that served both as a table and as a terminal. He really had to finish some much needed upgrades on his neural nanonics, as he called the thing in his brain. The web of neural-amplification circuits, meshed directly with his brain, provided him a link with electronic circuitry. It was a completely illegal and highly dangerous enhancement, but it proved its worth a dozen times over in only the past year.

“Well, after you finish that, _we_ can easily go to sleep. _Together_ ,” she explained, as she leaned forward, her gentle hands caressing his back.

She was just catching his earlobe with her mouth, her tongue lazily trailing it, and Tony was preparing to swat her away like an annoying fly, when Rhodey came in, cheerfully saying: “Tones! Aphro told me that you… _What the hell?_ ”

He stopped abruptly, and Tony, who knew exactly what was going to happen, face-palmed.

“ _Anthony Edward Stark,_ why _the_ _fuck_ are you seducing the motherfucking _ship_?! _Again_?” Rhodey yelled, his hands on his hips, the picture of a disapproving mother.

“And you, young _lady_ , how could you? He’s still underage!” he then turned to Aphrodite, who was now glaring back at him, but Tony knew for sure was actually having great fun.

Oh, and also: “Underage? I’m 38! Besides, that law doesn’t even cover...” he protested, but Rhodey just sent him an unimpressed look, which cut him off, and said: “Yes, underage. Wait three more years and you’ll be fine.”

“I really don’t know what kind of a stupid person put _forty-fucking-one_ as the legal age. Did they fell on their head as a child or what?” Tony angrily mumbled, mostly to himself. “They can go fuck themselves anyway.”

Rhodey waved his finger at him: “Now, you can’t talk to your elders like that! And isn’t it already way past your bedtime? When was the last time you slept?”

Tony only narrowed his eyes on him, then turned back to the table, putting his hands back on. But Aphrodite snapped her fingers, and the entire subsystem with his work shut down, effectively cutting him off. He glared at her, but she appeared totally unfazed by the horrible death his look was already scheming for her.

Rhodey only shook his head, collapsing into a seat next to him: “Tones, Numina won’t collapse if you take a break. Hell, with all the work you’ve done in the past few months, you could even retire, and the company would go on indefinitely! What are you so nervous about?”

Tony avoided his gaze for a moment, then sighed and said: “It’s just… This is it - this is what I’ve always been trying to do. I was trying to make a difference, but not as Prince Stark, or even maybe a King one day, but as myself. I resented the name Stark, and how that defined not only me, but my future as well. I always wanted to become someone else. I… I guess I just wanted to be _Tony_ , y’know? No high expectations that I can’t fulfil, no ass-kissing and no real responsibilities… That was all I ever wanted at that time.”

He looked down, drawing knees up to his body and putting his head on them, looking even smaller than usual. “And then, right after I made that decision that I thought was gonna change everything, the decision that I thought would forever separate _Prince Stark_ from _me_ … Right after that, everything went to hell. And now I feel very selfish, very stupid, because I threw away everything I had, everything that I was privileged to have, because I was so selfish and ignorant at that time.”

His voice turned softer, quieter, that Rhodey had to concentrate to hear him, when he continued: “I hated the name Stark, but now I miss it more than anything. Before, it never really meant anything good, besides obligations. But now? It means everything.”

Rhodey wondered what brought this on. Tony usually wasn’t so sentimental, and didn’t talk about his life with the royal family much. It took him more than two years of constantly being beside Tony and helping him for Tony to start trusting him even a little.

_“Today is the twelfth anniversary of their deaths”_ , the ship’s AI, Aphrodite, helpfully subvocalized to Rhodey, who mentally berated himself for forgetting.

He sighed again, and hugged Tony, not saying anything, just holding him.

Tony grabbed his arms and buried his head into his neck, also silent.

They grieved together, one for his long dead parents, and one for his best friend’s future.

* * *

 

It was moments like these, Pepper realized. When she was standing right outside the ship’s lab/workshop (whatever Tony was calling it now), watching two of her best friends rest on each other, hold each other in mutual support, that she realized not just how much those two idiots meant to her, but also how _young_ they were. How vulnerable. And how far she would go to protect them.

Tony was basically still a baby. Thirty-eight may seem _old_ to some species, but since humans could live up to even 450 years, 38 was young. Even the laws said so: he wasn’t legally an adult, not yet anyway. That doesn’t mean that anyone viewed them as kids, no, just the opposite. They had all the access to drugs, alcoholic drinks, weapons and sex they wanted, but not politics or voting. It just meant that the society valued the experience people gathered with age more than anything in that matter, nothing else. It would be a couple of years before he could finally step up as the rightful head of Numina, the company Pepper was now heading for him.

Rhodey… Rhodey was older, by about seven years. Not that it showed, of course. Aging was one of the first things that was stopped when humans started editing their genome. Everyone looked 20-something for the first couple of centuries, and then later _slowly_ got older.

Age was a weird thing nowadays.

Seven years wasn’t much. They were both still kids, in Pepper’s eyes. Both hella smart, and reckless. But also family.

They were the only family Pepper still had.

* * *

 

“Why would you even want to go there?” Rhodey asked, spinning in his chair in the command centre. He was clearly bored, the holoscreens not showing the outside of the ship as they should be, but rather a game of _Abask_ he was playing. His opponent was the ship, which meant Rhodey was losing rather badly, but it didn’t bother him.

“We can’t go there,” Pepper sighed. “I set up a meeting with our representatives in the _Marelica_ system. As soon as we’re charged and ready to go, we are jumping there. Nowhere else. Tony, this is important!”

She tapped the floor with the tip of her shoe, showing her annoyance. “I am _not_ rescheduling again. Do you even realize the amount of effort it takes to run Numina even without us constantly being in different solar systems, hell, sometimes even different galaxies that our company?”

Tony, who was sitting at the front console, leaned back in the chair and sighed, closing his eyes for a second: “Pep, no one knows how much work Numina requires more than you. But we _must_ stop at the Quie Orbital.”

“Why? What’s _so_ important that it precedes my _carefully_ arranged meeting?”

Pepper crossed her arms at that, and squeezed her eyes just a little bit, giving Tony her best ‘you’ll suffer in the next ten seconds no matter what kind of an answer you’ll give me’ look.

“Look, Pep, Numina is very important to me too. But this is _more_ important. Athena says that the search we’ve set up…”

Pepper held up her hand in a clean sign for him to stop talking: “No. Stop. Tony, I love you and all, but that _thing_ hasn’t turned up anything even remotely related to that… _issue_ in years! We have maybe found one correlation, that’s all! We can’t blow up another meeting for _nothing_!”

Tony rolled his eyes: “But Pep! Athena is certain! Besides, Numina won’t crumble in a day!”

Rhodey hid his chuckle behind his hand: “Famous last words, eh?”

Pepper gave him an angry look, then turned back to Tony, and now Athena, whose hologram appeared at his shoulder. “Tony, we are _not_ going to Tehreto-Vespae system. Not only because we haven’t got the time, but also because there are certain… rumours about that place.”

Now Tony sighed, exchanging a look with Athena: “Rumours, sure. Pep, we can protect ourselves. Look…”

The next sentence that was about to come out of his mouth was drowned out by the sudden noise that filled the cabin, and an Alpha symbol that flashed on all the screens. Athena averted her gaze and her hologram instantly disappeared.

“There is a distress signal coming through. A ship in distress, not too far away,” her voice came over the speakers.

Tony quickly turned to the holoscreen, which was now displaying data about the distress signal. “Do we have enough energy for the jump?” he asked her, not even looking up.

“We do.”

Tony turned around in his chair, and snapped his fingers at Pepper and Rhodey: “Strap in! We’re going!”

Rhodey immediately strapped in, but Pepper gave him a disappointed look: “We can’t just… Tony! The meeting!”

“Pep! A ship in distress! People’s lives are more important than a stupid meeting! Come on! Adventure awaits!”

Pepper sighed, but sat down in her chair, strapping in: “I hate when you say that.”

Tony smirked: “No you don’t.”

He leaned back, straps already holding him down, and gestured with his hand: “Punch it!”


	4. Why Is This Happening To Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news: I am not dead (yet)!  
> seriously

“You do realize you don’t have to tell us to get to combat stations? We do that anyway!” yelled Sam, running through the corridors. “And we do not call them _combat stations_!”

Peggy, in her current battle ready state didn’t even acknowledge him, rather redirected all power to shields and scanners, then released some control to Natalia, Sharon and Sam, who were already on the bridge.

Natalia was looking for whatever _almost_ hit them (thankfully, it was almost - if it had actually hit them with their shields down, they would be merely a cloud of scattered atoms now), and was trying her best to predict the next attack. Sharon was manipulating the energetic field around the ship that acted as their shield, and Sam was just looking a bit lost.

Clint, who had been hidden in his cabin until now, came barrelling through the corridor to the bridge, seizing port control, and immediately arming guns, yelling: “What the fuck was that?”

“An unidentified vessel has just fired on us, almost hitting my left wing,” Peg reported, her hologram flickering, unable to fully stabilize, while she continued: “I cannot identify the projectile, but it was solid matter that tried to pierce me. That suggests one of bigger ships, and due to our current location…”

“I found it,” whispered Natalia.

Peggy’s hologram disappeared and instantaneously the forward glass cleared, revealing a giant dark mass, with a blood red symbol painted on the nose, heading right into them.

Sam was still picking his jaw from where it fell to the floor in his surprise, when Steve and Bucky burst onto the bridge.

“Report,” barked Steve, and in that moment, he went from being Steve to being Captain Rogers.

“A Pretender class ship just fired at us. It is clear that they’re a Hound. Why they want us, no idea,” said Sharon. “I’ve already started transmitting a distress signal, but I’ve no idea if anyone is close enough to help.”

Bucky, who was now standing at the right side of Captain’s chair, read the specs Peggy provided out loud: “They’re at least five times bigger than us. There is also _a lot_ more weaponry, and don’t even get me started on the shielding of that thing. They’re also a lot faster.”

“But…?” Captain asked.

“There is no but. We might be a little more agile, and I think we might get to use nearby asteroid cluster to hide, which is our only option,” Bucky answered.

Captain took a second to process everything, then started snapping orders: “Clint, Sam, get down to fighter jets and boot them up. We probably won’t need them, but we need to be prepared. Nat, find us a place to hide and prepare engines for close manoeuvring. Bucky, take the offensive weaponry, warm it up, but also don’t show the preparations. And Sharon, launch a signal relay probe, into the opposite direction. Bounce our signal off of that and then signal the Hounds.”

There wasn’t even a moment for a ‘cap yes cap!’ that was usually saluted in these circumstances. All members of the crew left on their assignments like a well-oiled machine that they were. Some of them have worked together for years, and it showed.

The signal Sharon send was never answered. Instead, the ship shook again, almost throwing Nat and Bucky out of their chairs.

“What the fuck just hit us?” now yelled Sharon, her composed demeanor slipping.

Another shot hit them, and she sucked in a surprised breath when she noticed the status their shield were in right now: “Cap, you have to get us out of here, right now! Shields are barely holding! I have no idea what they’re throwing at us, but it si very bad.”

Captain turned to Natalia: “Nat, get us to that hiding place you found, _now_!”

The ship shook again, and this time a couple of power links and connections inside the ship, on the bridge and elsewhere blew up, causing small fires to start.

“Hull breach! Multiple hull breaches!” yelled Peggy.

Bucky cursed loudly, and Nat, who was wrestling with uncooperative controls, gave him a short, small smile.

“I need all the power I still have to maintain our shielding and to seal the breaches. I am shutting off gravity and all environmental controls in unused parts of the ship right now,” reported Peggy, her holographic avatar long forgotten, but her voice still carrying the worry and hurry.

Captain pushed his fingers into chair’s sidearm, effectively plugging himself into the ship’s systems.

“They are using plasma weaponry,” he suddenly reported, data flickering through his head at an amazing speed.

“Where the fuck did they get their hands on plasma beam arrays?” yelled Bucky, angrily swatting away a shower of sparks that emanated from his console.

“Hounds aren’t supposed to be that advanced. Something fishy is happening here,” observed Sharon.

“Well, I don’t care what fishy business Hounds got themselves into, we are as good as dead if we don’t hide fast enough. Peg, do you think you could hold a chameleon field for a while?” asked Captain.

“Probably, but for a very short time. And it would be very easy to see through, but we could try,” she said.

“Okay then. Bucky, Sam, Clint, start shooting. Aim for their sensor cluster and any radar or other sensory equipment you see. Nat, we really need to get out of their line of fire, today and alive, preferably,” Captain snapped at Natalia.

“I am trying to do exactly that,” she answered, her voice strained with effort she was putting into this.

“Yowzah, motherfuckers! Got them right onto their main sensor array!” Clint’s voice, excited but weary, came over the speakers.

Captain smiled: “Good job, Clint. Now take out all of their eyes and ears, and we’ve won.”

The ship shook yet again, but this time the power went out for a second, before it returned.

“There won’t be any of that chameleon field, Cap,” Peggy said. “They just blew one of the engines, and it took all circuits and the generator surrounding it with it. I’m now relying on the last two engines, since the fourth one was fucked up from the beginning.”

Another loud bam, another wave of sparks and small fires.

“Say goodbye to talking to others. That was _our_ transmitter array that just blew up,” sighed Peggy.

“Dammit!”

A loud curse came over the speakers, and was followed by a bit longer string of curses, while Sam piped in: “What Clint is trying to say is that they efficiently blew up half of our weapon arrays, and also took out our docking bay. This ship is falling apart, Captain.”

Captain angrily looked away from the screen, then snapped his head up: “Nat, how are we doing at that hiding spot?”

She shook her head: “Not good. We’re not gonna reach it in time with only two engines working. I’m sorry“

He cursed, turning away from her.

“There has to be another solution,” he mumbled.

“Cap! What do we do?”

A scared crew was looking up to him, and he had no idea what to do.

“I…” he started, when the ship shook again, this time much harder, and everyone who was not strapped in, fell out of their seats. The lights flickered and went out, and the temperature immediately pummelled.

The ship creaked ominously, and Peggy wasn’t responding.

Captain started picking himself up, when a tingling sensation overcame him, and his vision slowly went white, shimmering and sparkling.

But before the whiteness could fully engulf him, he thought he saw Bucky reaching for him and yelling his name.

Then he remembered no more.

* * *

“And… Here we are!”

Athena was always cheerful after a Jump. Since both other avatars, Artemis and Aphrodite, hated jumping, Tony still had no idea what was about Jumps that made Athena so happy.

“Anelan system, close to their sixth planet. The distress signal is originating somewhere around here, and… Bam! Got ‘em.”

Pepper and Rhodey always needed a minute to adjust to normal space again after a Jump, but Tony had enough enhancements for something like that to not bother him.

He brought both hands up and together, then pulled them apart and with that motion pulled up an enlarged live hologram of the battling ships.

“A Wanderer class versus a Pretender? That it’s a definition of unfair! Wait, that Wanderer is with the Alliance? What the hell are they doing out here?”

“The other ship is a Hound,” helpfully supplied Athena.

Tony’s face immediately darkened, but then he slipped a mask in front of that darkness, just like he was used to, and smiled again: “A Hound, you say? Well, let’s pay them a visit. Impulse on full.”

By now Pepper had recovered well enough to ask him: “What the hell are we doing?”

“Saving an Alliance ship, of course!” he answered cheerfully, not letting his mask slip even a little bit.

“Can we raise them and tell them the help is on its way?” he asked the ship.

Athena shook her head: “No way. Their communication array had been blown to hell right after first part of the distress signal went through.”

Tony took another long look at the current situation, then fully turned to Athena, and said: “You are great and all, but I really need a warrior right now. I need Artemis.”

She only smiled: “I can see why.”

Then her hologram disappeared, and Artemis appeared. “I heard you require my expertise,” she smirked.

When Tony only raised an eyebrow in reply, she rolled her eyes and turned to the action.

“So! A very unfair fight between Alliance and Hunds. They’ll be in range of my main weapons array in about twenty seconds, five more if you want delicate targeting,” she said, leaning on the console in front of her with one hand, and tapping her chin knowingly with the other one.

Tony observed the fight for another two seconds, then dismissed it with a wave of his hand. Rather, he brought up schematics of the smaller ship.

“Wanderer isn’t holding up all that well. Actually, considering the circumstances, they are performing abnormally good, but nothing can help them against a Pretender armed with… Are those plasma beam arrays? Artemis, analyze that design. I sincerely hope it isn’t ours,” he said, still staring at the beams of energy bigger ship was shooting around.

A loud alarm suddenly blared, making everyone jump, and the hologram of the battling ships appeared once again.

“Structural integrity of the Wanderer falling,” Artemis reported. “The ship’s gonna blow up any second now. Our shields can’t be extended far enough to stop that.”

“Transporters?” Tony asked, hopeful. Transporters were never supposed to be used for transporting people, but there weren’t any other options left.

“In range. Won’t be very pretty, but…” Artemis started, but Tony interrupted her: “I don’t care! Bring over parts of their ship with them, if you have to! Just get them into our transporting bay.”

She blinked in surprise, then immediately straightened and said: “Locking onto crew’s signatories and transporting… Now.”

And not a second too early. As soon as she said that, Wanderer ship on the screen exploded.

“And… Got them. Also, we’re in range now,” Artemis said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

Tony looked over at Rhodey and Pepper: “Let’s go greet our guests. They must be very shaken up. And Artemis?”

“Yeah?” she peeked up.

He smiled at her: “Fire at will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there you go, guys  
> just a note: I'm going on an exhange very soon (to Germany), so we'll see how much more of this you'll see this year :) I hope I can reach 20.000 words, but with the plot I plotted out for this I suspect the thing is going to be a bit longer (and slower updating)


	5. What A Horrible Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve has a horrible day and Tony's is only a margin better.

Steve was dizzy, his head hurt, and he had a tingling sensation in his limbs, but he was pretty sure he wasn’t dead.

Unless, of course, this is how one felt when one entered afterlife. Not that he believed in stuff like that, but still.

He slowly opened his eyes, but immediately shut them. The bright light wasn’t helping his headache. Wasn’t one of the purposes of the serum to stop any sort of discomfort, like a headache, from existing?

He was pretty sure that stopping headaches was included in the packet of good things he received with the serum. Besides enhanced strength, reflexes, even more slowed ageing process and sharper senses, of course.

“Steve?” someone croaked out.

He recognized that voice. Sam.

“Yeah?” he hesitantly said back, then finally forced his eyes open, and looked around, acknowledging their surroundings.

They weren’t on the _Wolf_ anymore. The unknown room they were in looked like a cargo bay. Very shiny and very polished, not very full and small, it screamed expensive.

“Oh man, please don’t tell me a pleasure cruiser picked us up,” groaned Clint. “And how the fuck did we even get here? I thought we were done for.”

Now Steve finally snapped away from his scanning of the scene, and rather focused on his crew. Sam was laying on the floor, some parts of their ship around him, and not that far from him, next to a big box of something was Clint with Natalia’s head in his lap, looking lost.

But… Steve quickly turned around. The place wasn’t that big, and it became very evident soon that Sharon and Bucky were missing. He would have to go looking for them, but he had to take care of his present team members first.

“Here, come on,” he said to Sam and helped him up. Natalia had also awaken by now, and was quietly chatting with Clint.

“Any idea how we got here?” asked Sam, repeating Clint’s earlier question

“You were transported,” answered him a new voice, coming from behind them.

Steve immediately turned around, prepared to start demanding answers, but it didn’t came to that.

Even though he didn’t hear any doors opening, there was now an opening in the wall, and a young man standing in front of them.

He was maybe a little on the short side, with dark brown hair, a goatee, and beautiful dark olive skin. His clear blue eyes were intelligent, perceptive, looking at Steve with interest and a clear question in them. He was wearing a sleeveless purple shirt, showing off his strong arms. Nowhere near as muscular as Steve’s, but it looked like he wasn’t a man who just sat around and did nothing all day.

But the man wasn’t alone. There was also a woman standing behind him. She was taller, with red hair and whiter skin, freckles covering her nose and cheeks. She was dressed in all blue, with warm eyes and a smile she was now directing at them.

“Who are you? Where are we? Where’s the _Wolf_?” Sam started, but the man only held up his arm: “Please, please. We’ll answer all questions you might have in a second, just come with us. I really don’t want to have this conversation in a cargo bay.”

Now Steve finally recovered enough to stop them: “Not before you tell us where are Sharon and Bucky.”

“Who?” asked the young man.

“Our crew members, of course!” Steve snarled. “What did you do to them?”

The young man took a step backwards, holding up his arms in defence: “I don’t know who are you talking about, I swear! You were the only ones we picked up!”

“And that!” Steve pointed at him. “What exactly did you do? Where’s our ship? Who are you?”

“Hey, back off, I’m the good guy here!” the man tried to defend himself.

“You don’t look like one,” commented Clint.

Now the redhead stepped in: “Hey! Stop this shit, now, please! We can have a civil conversation, but nothing else! Please, behave. _If you know how._ ”

That last part was muttered, but Steve’s enhanced feeling still picked it up.

Then she turned around, clearly satisfied with their silence, and said to the young man: “Okay then. Tony, if you would?”

The young man, Tony, smiled, a beautiful smile that only made Steve’s heart beat faster. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “Athena, we’re going to need you on this one.”

Suddenly, a hologram of a young woman appeared next to Tony. She was taller than Tony, with dark brown hair styled in an old fashioned haircut that had them flowing over her shoulders, dressed in a pink formal wear, something Steve sometimes saw the Alliance senators wearing. She was standing there, shoulders squared, and looked like a very powerful figure, just like Peggy.

“Hi!” she said, waving at them excitedly. “I am the ship, and this,” she gestured at her body, “is my avatar Athena. Nice to meet you all.”

Nobody said anything, and Steve quickly assessed his crew. Natalia looked worried for a second, before she visibly relaxed. Sam looked just a bit weirded out, and Clint was apparently sulking, probably still pissed off about something from earlier.

When there was no response the avatar only sighed, a small smile playing on her lips. “Look, guys, we’re trying to do good here. We received your distress call, and immediately went to your rescue. However, when we arrived at the scene, your ship,” she paused then, and Steve helpfully added: “The _Wolf_ . She is called the _Wolf_.”

“Okay. So, the _Wolf_ was too banged up, and we were too late. I’m sorry,” she said, still looking Steve in his eyes, and he hung on every word she said, even though he already knew what was about to come out of her mouth: “The ship was destroyed.”

Now Steve looked down, away, because he couldn’t stand it.

It never seemed possible that Peggy would be the one to leave first. With the job they had, they both assumed that they would go out together. Or that Steve would die first, of old age, even though that seemed very improbable.

But… Peggy being destroyed and him still being alive? That thought never occurred to either of them. It seemed impossible, now, to imagine his existence without Peggy. She wasn’t only his colleague, she was his friend, his guide. She was the one that supported him, understood him and helped him.

And now she was… Gone? Just like that? Four simple words just confirmed the end of her existence?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he looked up, through the haze of his tears, there was standing Tony. Tony, who was looking at him with sadness in his eyes, almost like he could imagine what Steve was going through. Like he didn’t just completely destroy Steve’s life, and was now showing him false pity.

That pissed Steve off, and he pushed Tony’s hand off, not minding his super-strength in the least, then pushed him away and angrily stormed over to the avatar.

“You are lying!” he accused her, stabbing his finger into the hologram. It went right through, and Athena shook her head apologetically: “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, but… That is the truth. She is gone.”

“I’m supposed to believe you just like that? Then explain to me how we got here. What happened to Sharon and Bucky. To that Hound. Why it didn’t destroy you too.”

Avatar then paused for a second, and glanced over at Tony. That glance prompted Steve to turn as well, and he did just in time to notice Tony picking himself up from the ground, where Steve’s push threw him.

Tony didn’t say anything, but avatar still nodded, like she received instructions from him.

“We transported you here. Teleported, if you will,” she said.

Now Clint snorted: “Yeah, sure. Our transporters aren’t even precise enough for inorganic cargo, let alone _organic_ , and you claim you transported _people_ with yours? I call bullshit.”

“Yours may be that imprecise, but that is easy work for our transporters. How would you otherwise explain you all appearing here, alive, and no more wounded and battered than before?” avatar countered with a small smile on her face.

“Not all of us,” quietly said Steve.

“Right.” Clint immediately sobered: “Where are Bucky and Sharon?”

“The other two members of your crew?” avatar asked. “I’m sorry, but you were the only ones I was able to pick up.”

Steve took a step back, realizing what this could mean. “But… Bucky was right next to me! What do you mean you didn’t get him?”

She shook her head: “I’m afraid they didn’t make it.”

Steve’s legs suddenly didn’t support him anymore, and he fell down, on the floor, with all his weight. No. No, this wasn’t happening, he didn’t lose so many people at once, not right now...

“For all that’s worth it, I truly am sorry,” now said Tony.

Natasha whispered: “Get out.”

“I’m sorry?” Tony looked up at her.

She repeated, loudly this time: “Get out. You’ve done enough. And you, ship. Your avatar is ridiculous.

Athena looked affronted at that: “Excuse me? Who just saved your asses here? But oh no, nevermind me. I’m just a lowly ship, who absolutely didn’t risk themselves to save you.”

“Athena, calm down. It isn’t worth it,” said Tony, his face carefully blank. “Come on, we must leave them alone for this. They need time to think right now, and I think our presence here isn’t helping them.”

“You’re damn right it isn’t!” snapped Sam.

Athena only snickered: “You shut your mouth, kid. If it wasn’t for us, even you wouldn’t make it out alive.”

“So we’re supposed to thank you now?” asked Steve, regaining a bit of his composure, and looking up from the floor. “Thank you for _saving_ us? We would, if that was actually what you did!”

“Shut up!”

Everybody immediately went silent, looking at the red haired woman, who was standing there, looking all pissed off.

“You will all stop right now! Why can’t you people just be glad that you’re alive?” she asked. “Sometimes not even one person gets saved, and you can’t even be thankful there are four of you?”

She looked like she was battling tears, but continued nonetheless. “We’ll leave you alone for now, if that is what you wish. And, do not call for us if you can’t summon even a gram of gratitude for our help.”

Then she turned on her heel, and left, Tony trailing right behind her, looking at the floor.

As soon as the doors closed behind them, Steve collapsed on the floor and started sobbing.

* * *

 

”We retained enough energy for a 15k jump, which means we can just reach the outer orbit of the Quie Orbital, then drift to the Orbital itself on impulse,” reported Athena to Tony, who was back at the command center.

“That will additionally drain my reserves, but we can manage. That, of course, means that if you do get into any trouble, you can forget about a fast getaway.”

Tony shook his head: “When do I ever? Look, just prepare for the jump, and give a one minute and then also a fifteen seconds mark. That should do it.”

“I will do so. I also pulled up everything I could find about our new guests. Would you like to see the data?” Athena asked, her hologram standing in front of the giant screen in front of the consoles that was currently displaying the outside of the ship.

Tony motioned at the console in front of him: “Show it, please.”

First, the picture of the big blond buff appeared. “Capt. Steve Grant Rogers tal Nenetzia, 59 years old. Enlisted at age of 43, got paired with the Wolf and an AI OS Peggy, served in the 117th.”

Tony paused her at that: “Wait, he was in the taskforce that was supposed to blow us up?”

“Yep, but never did it. Anyway, works for the Alliance still, sometimes takes on jobs for SHIELD, our old… frenemies.”

“No. Don't. Don't use that word, just… no.”

Athena looked unapologetic. “Well okay. Those are his public records, but I also dug up classified material. He was part of a project called ‘AMERICA', highly classified, M4.”

Tony snorted at that. He couldn’t help himself. All people, who assumed the words ‘highly classified’ with M4 were fools. Athena herself used M32 encryption, to truly keep things a secret. Something that was merely M4 was easier for her to read than Tony’s own handwriting, she sometimes complained.

“So, I decrypted it, and apparently the Alliance was working on super-soldiers back then,” she motioned to another hologram that sprung up, opening different datafiles, all with a big star on them.

“Super soldiers?” asked Tony. Eugenics and advanced tech was more the Empire’s forte, not something the Alliance would’ve done.

“Yep. Apparently, they were trying to achieve super strength, super reflexes, advanced healing rate, resistance to total zero, resistance to vacuum (that’s a weird one), and also super senses,” ratted Athena off the list. “There is also a bunch of other stuff that would improve if they achieved this, but it’s not that important.”

“Looks like they were looking for a perfect captain and a perfect soldier,” said Tony, checking over some of the files.

“Yeah, but it actually worked only once. In Captain Steve Rogers.” Athena now turned around, one of her hands playing with a stray hair a bit, like she was thinking. “It doesn’t say or even imply why others didn’t succeed, or why they didn’t try again after their first success. The fact is, they just didn’t.”

Tony also looked mystified, but shook his head. “Okay, that’s him. Let’s look into others, and see if you come up with something in the meantime.”

“Right. Okay. Well, this cutie here is Sergeant Buchanan Barnes tal Tamaran. He is one of the two missing persons, He enlisted at 44, now is 65. Part of ground troops, only really met Rogers when Rogers saved Barnes’ unit with his ship. Then served under Rogers, until now.

“Next is Sergeant Sam Wilson tal Khalee. Enlisted at 44, is now 67. He worked as a glider, part of a special flying unit, ground assault. Buddy got shot down, Wilson resigned. Started working with Rogers only a couple of years back.

“This is Clint Barton tal Roszar. Never in the army, but is a part of SHIELD, part of their ground assault units. Very good with archaic weaponry, such as projectile guns, pistols, and even a bow, but they say he also never misses with a blaster or a kinetic. Anyway, he is 68.

“This beauty here is Commander Sharon Carter, the other missing person. She enlisted at merely 43, is now 59 years old. Worked as a captain of a small unit, again ground assault, but quickly resigned and started working for SHIELD. Placed under Rogers as a spy, she switched allegiances a couple of years back and also resigned from SHIELD.”

“And this… is Natalia Romanoff tal Bela, also was a part of SHIELD, but resigned. Or,” she smirked, “that’s what her official records would want us to believe. In reality, she is Natasha Alianovna Romanova tal Mir, _still_ working with SHIELD as one of their top agents. She’s usually paired with Barton, and I believe she is either spying on captain Rogers or some other member of the crew. Anyway, she is very dangerous.”

“Not as dangerous as Pepper, I bet,” he smiled.

She nodded and said: “That is probably true. Still, you need to be careful.”

“Think she’ll figure it out?”

Athena paused for a second, like she was thinking. But given to the fact that she was a super intelligent AI, she didn’t _need_ to pause for thinking. When she did, she usually wanted for someone else to say something.

Tony didn’t give in and patiently waited for her to roll her eyes in defeat, and finally she said: “Maybe? I don’t know. She’s quite smart, and not blind. She’ll probably figure it out sooner rather than later. Especially,” she said, turning around, and opening a map of the Orbital, showing him their approach path “since we’ll soon arrive at our destination. And that’s _very_ descriptive. But strap in, we’re jumping in fifteen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm sorry. This is the last chapter. I totally abandoned this story. I've lost all interest in Marvel, and I just don't have any more motivation to write this and finish this.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, please please please tell me what you think! We writers thrive on your replies to our work :)


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